Open to all graduates from design or cognate disciplines, this exciting new MA is based around principles of learning through collaboration, deepening existing skills and acquiring new practical knowledge in enterprise and marketing relevant to design. It is a one-year 90-credit taught MA developed in conjunction with stakeholders in the design profession. It is run through a combination of in-house expertise and a strong Visiting Lecturer programme. This MA is unique in Ireland in terms of its focus on deepening and broadening the design knowledge and skills and developing additional skills in interdisciplinary practice, enterprise and marketing for design.

Modules included are Collaborative Project, Design Research Methods, Situated Design Research, Marketing for Design, Enterprise for Design, Contemporary Design Issues and Major Project.

Interdisciplinary design offers the learner a deep learning engagement through facilitated interaction with peers in order to widen existing knowledge, skills and competencies in design and related areas. This programme is designed to reflect the current needs of the design profession and to develop the interdisciplinary design practitioner, a designer who can comfortably fit into a number of design roles and work confidently with other design, marketing and business practitioners, a key skill in this mutable economic and business climate.

The philosophy of the proposed new MA in Interdisciplinary Design Practice is based on several core beliefs and practices

- the value of a collaborative interdisciplinary approach to design as problem-solving- the importance of enabling an awareness of global issues in design, and a sense of responsibility among designers - the need to fill industry-identified gaps in the skill-sets of designers graduating from degree programmes, in terms of business, enterprise and marketing

The course is designed for graduates from design and other cognate disciplines. This inclusion of students from different disciplines allows for peer learning, and for the development of further design skills and also transferrable skills of teamwork, negotiation and communication.